The Fine Print
by Bcharmer
Summary: Regina wants Emma gone. Gone from Storybrooke, gone from her life and most importantly, gone from Henry's. Has the Evil Queen finally hit upon the plan that will drive the Savior away for good? Or will it backfire in ways she had never imagined?
1. Chapter 1

Regina paced her study, a short tumbler of cider held loosely by her fingertips. She was on edge and restless; she had been since Emma Swan had shown up on her porch with Henry in tow after her son had gone looking for his birth mother. Like the proverbial thorn in her side, everything about Emma from the way she talked to the way she walked needled and irritated her. Her constant presence in Storybrooke, in Henry's life, and hers by extension, was an aggravation she didn't want or need.

Before Emma's arrival the people of Storybrooke had a healthy fear of her, just enough so that no one questioned her outside of her own son's pre-teen testing of her authority and she was able to rule the town as she saw fit. Now though, now she heard the whispers and she could no longer ignore those brave enough to give her fast dirty looks, two things that wouldn't have happened even a month prior to that damn yellow bug driving into town.

Emma's arrival set a chain of events in motion that thus far had culminated in the loss of Graham's life. Regina missed him, not because she loved him, she didn't love anyone outside of her son. Romantic love led to loss and she'd suffered enough of that in her lifetime, but she missed the utter uncomplicated nature of her relationship with Graham. He was gone though. Gone because of Emma. Gone because she was the supposed Savior. Regina couldn't allow him to live with his recovered memories and there was only one way she could be certain he wouldn't ruin her happy ending.

Taking his life had been a necessary sacrifice, one she hadn't regretted until the last week or so when she realized she also sacrificed the only person that she could stomach allowing to service her sexually. Her choice of bedmates in the small Maine town of her creation was severely lacking in options. Neglecting to provide herself a choice of lovers was one of her regrets about casting the curse.

Regina downed the remaining cider in the tumbler. It wasn't as if she were incapable of handling things herself but even if she'd never allow herself to get emotionally close to anyone else she did still crave a physical connection with another human being from time to time. It had been twenty-one days and twenty-one lonelier nights since she'd felt the touch of another's hand. She was lonely because of Emma Swan and loneliness was like love. It was for the weak and she was anything but. Anger welled up in her chest and she welcomed the warmth as it bloomed.

Anger was safer; anger was the emotion she could wear like a cloak. It kept her on guard and kept other, unwelcome emotions at bay. Anger was strength. Anger didn't get banished. There was only one other emotion that could push her anger to the side even momentarily. Desire. And that was only because anger and desire were emotions that were typically intertwined for her.

She'd been summoning Graham to her bed more frequently since finding out that Emma was Henry's birthmother and the blonde's announcement that she had no intention of leaving Storybrooke no matter how difficult Regina had tried to make her life. With a start she realized that she'd been using sex to blunt the anxiety she'd felt since learning of Emma's existence. Everything about the woman threatened to make her weak and that was unacceptable. The Savior needed to go.

Regina let the anger grow, using it to fuel a plan that she hoped would drive the annoying blonde out of town. An evil grin tugged at her lips as she grabbed Emma's personnel file and carried it into her office. In moments she'd fired up her laptop, found the electronic version of the employment contract for the sheriff's position and made a key revision. The original page was slipped into the shredder and replaced in the version Emma had signed after winning the election. She shoved the contract into her bag and made her way to the front door of the mansion.

Henry was in a session with Archie, his third of the week, and that meant she had time to make certain the newly elected Sheriff understood each and every one of her responsibilities before she met Henry at Granny's for a post-session treat. If she had her way, the additional language in the contract would be more than enough to get Emma to resign her position once she understood what was expected of her and without any other job prospects, Regina hoped it would be enough to get Emma to leave town forever.

The drive was to the station was short, but not so brief that Regina didn't wish to still have the ability appear wherever she wanted in a matter of a second, surrounded by a whirl of purple smoke. The door to the sheriff's office slammed open to announce her arrival and the startled yelp it garnered from the blonde wearing the badge was the most satisfaction she'd had in ages.

"Ms. Swan." Her voice was all business, her tone clipped.

"Damnit, Regina! Why do you always come in here like your hair is on fire?" she asked testily, her heart still hammering hard in her chest.

"Because I can, dear," she answered coolly, her high heels clicking against the cheap tile in the station. "You and I need to have a little chat as it seems your presence here will be on-going."

Emma turned in her chair to fully face the mayor. "Yeah, it is. I'm glad to hear that you've finally accepted it."

"For the time being, Ms. Swan." She closed the remaining distance between them and perched on the edge of Emma's desk, her skirt rising to reveal firm calves. She wasn't certain if she saw rather than imagined Emma's gaze immediately dropping and caressing her legs like a touch before snapping up to meet her brown eyes. Either way she easily kept her expression schooled. "It's easy enough to accept it when I have no doubt that eventually you'll give into your nature and run away."

Emma pushed her chair away from the desk and stood, unwilling to give Regina the advantage of literally looking down at her from her own desk. "I have no intention of going anywhere so stop trying to find ways to run me out of town," she said harshly.

"My, my… I think I hit a nerve." Regina smirked knowing it would get another rise out of the blonde.

Emma refused to back down and took a step forward and crossed her arms over her chest. "You said you needed to talk to me. Talk."

"Tsk, tsk…so impatient. I think you're picking up some bad habits from your roommate Ms. Blanchard."

"Look. Talk or get out. I've got a ton of paperwork to get through as you well know." She was convinced Regina had piled it on in an effort to get drive her out of town with dead trees alone.

"Fine." Regina pushed a pile of paper away from her legs, her eyebrow hiked up under her hair. "I was curious. Did you read your employment contract before you signed it?"

"Why?" she asked uneasily as she studied Regina's face.

"Why doesn't matter. Did you read it?" Her tone was even and from the set of Emma's jaw, Regina was certain that she was infuriating Henry's birthmother.

Emma's eyes narrowed. "No," she answered honestly. "Why does it matter?"

Regina smiled and slid gracefully off the desk. Emma didn't step back and they ended up nearly nose to nose. Regina could feel the tension rolling off the blonde and smiled. She pulled Emma's personnel file from her bag and flipped to the back pages before handing it to her. "Read the fine print, dear." Without another word, she left the sheriff's office as suddenly as she'd arrived just a few moments before.

She resisted the desire to stay to see Emma's reaction to the paragraph she'd pointed to and was rewarded when she heard Emma's, "holy shit," echo through the hall before the door to the office could fully shut.

Emma followed Regina's Mercedes through town, lights flashing and siren wailing. She didn't kill either until she pulled into the mayor's driveway, her squad car coming to a stop inches behind Regina's car. "Regina!" she shouted as she threw the door open and chased after her.

"Regina!" she shouted again even as she grabbed at the brunette's elbow and pulled her to a stop.

"Take your hands off of me, Ms. Swan."

"That's ironic considering what I just read." Emma shot back, though she released Regina immediately. She shoved her employment contract back into Regina's hands. "Do you want to explain this?"

"It seems to me that the time for questions was before you signed the contract," she said with a not so sweet smile. "It's hardly my fault that you signed it blindly. If you are unwilling or unable to do the job in its entirety, then resign."

Emma's green eyes narrowed and she moved closer to her nemesis. "You think this will make me quit, that's why you added it to the contract."

"You think I had it added to your contract specifically? Don't flatter yourself dear." Regina lied, quickly turning to open the door to her home, not surprised in the slightest when Emma followed her inside without an invitation.

"You're telling me that's why Graham…" Emma shook her head unwilling to finish the thought that he was somehow forced to do things against his will and even more unwilling to think that Regina would be a part of something like that.

"No." Regina had known that on some level Graham had actually cared for her and for her son. She continued to move deeper into her home and found herself back in front of the fireplace in her study, a tumbler of cider in her hand. "No, Graham was a willing participant."

She handed Emma the tumbler, then poured another for herself. The silence between them was full of the tension of unasked and unanswered questions. Regina sat, perching on the edge of a chair and looking up at Emma. "What is it that you find so troubling about what is being asked of you?" Regina asked, her brown eyes dancing with delight as Emma squirmed under her gaze.

Emma's face flushed hotly. "You seriously want me to …" she gestured oddly with her hands, the ice tinkling loudly in her glass, "have sex with you?"

In a flash Regina was up and stepped into Emma's personal space. "Don't pretend that you haven't thought about it. I've seen the way you look at me. Why just minutes ago you looked at my legs like you wanted to wrap them around your waist and carry me straight to the cot in one of the holding cells." She moved so close, their breasts brushed together. "You don't have the market cornered on being able to see the truth in someone else, Ms. Swan."

Heat flooded her body at Regina's all-too-accurate assessment and she took a shaky step back, the need to create a little space between greater than her need to breathe in that moment. She didn't step back far enough, a fact realized too late when she did take a breath and Regina's perfume and the scent of apples seemed to envelope her.

Regina gripped the tumbler a little tighter, her lips curling up into a sexy smile. Emma reaction was more than she could have hoped for. It was somewhere between fear and desire, two emotions Regina wanted to elicit in others more than any others. "Ms. Swan, you have a choice. Don't pretend otherwise."

The satisfied tone of Regina's voice was enough to snap Emma out of the stupefied haze she'd found herself in. "I'm not sleeping with you," she blurted a little too quickly.

"No?" Regina stepped close to her again. "Is that because you don't want to or is it because you want to more than you think you should?" she taunted her.

"You don't even like me, Regina. All you've done since I've been here is try to get me to leave. Why would you want me in your bed?" Emma countered, unwilling to back down and let Regina push her buttons.

"It's simple dear…because you want me."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: I'm a bonehead as I'm sure any of you who read this chapter anytime between 11 pm last night and 10 am this morning (7/31/14) can attest. I pulled one of my smoothest moves yet and posted a working chapter that included some stuff I was noodling on for Chapter 3, instead of the final version of this chapter. I apologize. I'm blaming it on the late-ish hour and my own hurry to get the chapter up. I'm usually better about this kind of stuff, though I once posted a fic on LJ that referenced a "disemboweled" voice instead of one that was "disembodied".**

**On a much happier note, I want to thank everyone that's following the story. I've been watching OUaT from the get go, but something happened this summer that sparked my SQ fangirl muse and the only way I know to satisfy her is to let her have her way with me. Really, thanks again for reading and putting up with a few "getting used to posting on FFN" type glitches. I'll get it together. Promise. - BC**

Chapter Two

Emma gunned the engine of the cruiser. She didn't have a particular destination in mind. She only knew that she needed put some distance between herself and Regina. After the mayor's arrogant assumption she had stood in the foyer for a long moment, her jaw slack and her eyes wide. Emma prided herself on being able to think on her feet, but she had been caught off guard and she was steamed that Regina had bested her.

In the moment following Regina's smug "because you want me" Emma was shocked. Shocked that Regina thought it. Shocked that Regina said it out loud. Shocked that Regina had paid close enough attention to see the truth she could barely even admit to herself.

She'd tried to buy time and cover just how uncomfortable Regina had made her by throwing back the cider. Her only verbal volley had been a weak, "I know you think I'm an idiot Madame Mayor, but I know that clause isn't legal."

Her hands tightened on the steering wheel as she pulled onto Main Street, Regina's taunting "Why, Ms. Swan… I assumed that given your background this wouldn't be outside the realm of your experience" still ringing in her ears. That one statement told her just how deep Regina had dug into her past and it infuriated her that so much of her life was an open book to the mayor's prying eyes. She wouldn't have denied it, but she hated that it wasn't even her choice to disclose it.

The smirk and the poise of the other woman were diametrically opposed to how off-kilter Emma felt. Part of her kept waiting to wake up from some… fever dream. It was the only state she could be in and admit that she felt a certain pull and attraction to the woman determined to run her out of town.

"You've lost your mind," she had said with as much finality as she could muster as she had turned and strode to the door.

"So… I can expect to have your letter of resignation on my desk tomorrow morning?"

Emma had just kept walking, but she'd been unable to ignore the smug, taunting satisfaction she could hear in Regina's voice. She yanked the door open only to slam it so hard behind her she was surprised it didn't splinter off its hinges. "Resignation my ass!" she yelled back, though she doubted Regina heard her.

She didn't know how long she'd driven around the small town, not that there were many streets to drive, but darkness had fallen by the time she stopped the cruiser in front of Granny's. "Fuck me," she muttered as she let her head fall back against the seat.

"Sorry, Sheriff. I don't swing that way…well not usually anyway" Ruby said as she suddenly appeared near the driver's side door, her grin growing when Emma jumped.

"Fuck me!" Emma exclaimed again, her hand landing on the butt of her service revolver. The shock of Ruby seeming to materialize out of nowhere had her instinctively reaching for her weapon.

"Well… I suppose you could convince a girl," Ruby shrugged as she eyed Emma up and down once the sheriff stepped out of the car. "You're going to have to buy me dinner first, or a least a couple of drinks."

Had she fallen down a rabbit hole? It was the only explanation that two of the straightest women she knew were suddenly talking about sleeping with her.

Ruby touched her arm, her chuckle dying when she noticed the expression on her face. "Hey, I'm kidding."

"Eh…yeah. Right. No, I know." Emma said as she scratched at the back of her neck. "Sorry. I'm…having a weird night."

"You look like you could use a drink." Ruby glanced over Emma's shoulder to where Regina sat with Henry in the front booth. "Does it have anything to do with our illustrious Mayor?"

Emma's headed swiveled, following Ruby's line of sight. "Why would you say that?" She felt her guts clench when she spotted Regina but didn't allow herself to even consider what her reaction meant.

Ruby shrugged. "She's the only person in town that gets under your skin."

"She doesn't get under my skin." Emma denied hotly. A little too hotly if Ruby's raised eyebrow was any indication.

"Anything you say, Sheriff." She glanced around to make certain none of the town's inhabitants were paying any attention to them as they passed by on the sidewalk before she reached into the pocket of the apron tied low on her hips. Ruby nudged Emma with her knee and covertly offered her the flask in her hand. "You look like you could use a drink."

"Technically, I'm on duty."

"Technically, you're always on duty. You need to get hire a deputy, but until you do, no one expects you to never have a drink."

Emma's gaze strayed to Regina's face once again. The Mayor's mouth was turned down in a frown and she wondered what Henry had said or done to elicit the expression. "I don't think Regina would agree with that sentiment."

"All the more reason to do it, don't you think?" Ruby asked as she offered the flask once again.

Regina turned at that moment and Emma knew by the smirk that formed in an instant that she'd been spotted. "Yeah. I think you're right." She turned her back to the diner and unscrewed the cap before raising it to her lips. It burned all the way down and Emma was grateful for the sensation. "I should have known you were a tequila girl," she rasped, wishing she had a beer chaser. She held the flask out to Ruby.

"Keep it. I've got another one stashed inside." Ruby could see the orders stacking up in the service window. "Remember that tequila is my favorite form of mental lubrication," she said with a wink as she headed back to the restaurant, "you know… in case you ever want me to take you up on that offer."

Emma chuckled at that as she watched Ruby dash back inside before she could incur Granny's wrath for abandoning her post.

The laugh died on her lips though when she saw Regina stand. She wasn't prepared to go another another round with the mayor, not while she was still trying to figure out what game Regina was playing at. She could feel the intensity of her gaze on her skin and she hurried to get back into the cruiser. Emma wasn't running. She just needed a little more time… and a little more distance. Yeah… that was it.

[-X-]

She tugged on her tank top, the constant tossing and turning had it bunched up beneath her breasts and the night air was cool on her overheated skin. "Fuck, fuck, fuck," she swore softly, not wanting to wake Mary Margaret. She glared at the ceiling as if it was the reason she wasn't able to sleep and not the thoughts of Regina that she couldn't seem to banish from her mind.

Emma had done a final patrol of the town and returned home. She claimed exhaustion rather than force herself to make idle chitchat with her roommate. Mary Margaret believed that she had an uncanny ability to read Emma and her moods and she had no desire to have another person in her life presume to know what she was thinking or feeling. She bit the inside of her cheek, second guessing that decision now, the thought that listening to her roommate drone on about her day might have been just what the doctor ordered to help her sleep.

"God… what are you playing at, Regina?" Was it just a weird sexual game of chicken? Was Regina setting her up for a fall in front of the town to undercut their confidence in her as sheriff? A sex scandal meant to make her flee in embarrassment?

All she knew for certain was that she was so over getting pushed around for Regina's amusement or to satisfy her need for control. Her stomach unknotted for the first time in hours as she sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. She'd dealt with people like Regina all her life. Bullies were a staple in the foster system when you were the new kid being placed in the home. She'd faced her share of kids that lashed out at her, scared she would somehow force them from their perches in the home's hierarchy. Regina was no different than those kids and Emma knew the stakes were even higher in the mayor's mind because of Henry.

Emma grabbed her jeans off the floor and tugged them on. She snagged her boots and leather jacket, her feet avoiding the creaky floorboards as she tiptoed toward the front door. Just like she had as a teenager sneaking out of a foster home after curfew, she paused at the door and listened for any signs that someone was awake. She didn't open the door until she could hear Mary Margaret's soft snore.

It look less than five minutes to get to Regina's, but it took multiple calls to Regina's cell to get the woman to answer her door.

"Ms. Swan!" she said sharply as she pulled the door open and tugged the sashes on her robe a little tighter. "It's the middle of the night. What on earth couldn't wait for a more civilized hour?"

"You're a bully."

"Excuse me?" she huffed, her irritation giving way to anger in the blink of an eye. She crossed her arms over her chest as she stared as hard at Emma as she could in her half-awake state.

_Eyes up, Swan._ Emma struggled to keep her gaze fixed on Regina's face when the breeze caught the edge of Regina's robe and she got a glimpse of the short, red silk nightie beneath it.

"Ms. Swan!" Regina barked just loudly enough to make Emma's eyes snap back to her own. "Please tell me you didn't wake me in the middle of the night… that you didn't risk waking Henry in the middle of the night just to come insult me."

Emma cleared her throat and took a step towards Regina, then another until she was standing just inside the mansion. "I said that you're a bully."

"I don't recall inviting you into my home."

"Do you know how you beat a bully, Regina?" she asked rhetorically as she reached for her, one arm sliding around the brunette's waist, her other hand clasping the back of her neck. "You call their bluff."

She pulled Regina flush against her body, a smile forming briefly when she heard the soft gasp of surprise. Then Emma's mouth was on Regina's, her lips moving hungrily as she gathered Regina as close as she could until she was shoved away.

"Unhand me!" Regina hissed, raising her hand and smacking Emma hard across the face.

Emma ran her finger down her stinging cheek. "I should have known you'd like it a little kinky."

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Regina intended to bark, but her voice was strained. Color rose to her cheeks when Emma stepped back again, a smirk tugging at the corner of the blonde's mouth. When the sheriff didn't answer her, instead taking a couple of steps toward the staircase, she nearly shrieked, "Ms. Swan. You need to leave my house immediately."

Regina's reaction fueled her swagger and Emma could feel it making her movements more languid than usual as she stripped off her leather jacket and dropped it on the bottom step next to her boot. Her white tank top landed next to it and when she turned to face Regina, her smile widened. It seemed it was her turn to throw the Mayor off her usual, very impressive game.

Try as she might, Regina couldn't help it and Emma's heartbeat picked up a little with that knowledge. She could feel Regina's gaze devouring her where she stood, black boots, black jeans and black lace bra in direct contrast to her pale skin. She saw Regina's fingers twitch, then twitch again when Emma drew her fingertips up over her own abs. If the look in Regina's eyes was any indication, she wanted to be the one that was touching toned smooth skin.

Regina blinked several times as if she were trying to shake off a fog, her mask settling back into place just before she stalked back to the front door and flung it open. "Get! Out! Now!"

Emma chuckled as she picked up her tank and slipped it back on. "So… no to the sexytimes then?" she asked once she was close enough to Regina that it wouldn't take much for her to pull her nemesis into another passionate kiss. Emma could feel Regina's eyes on her face and even with the angry expression she saw there it felt like a touch. She had to take a deep breath, then another as she forced herself to raise her head before she could give into the impulse and looked into eyes dark with anger. "Believe me when I tell you… it's your loss." She shoved her hands into the back pockets of her jeans and stepped backwards onto the porch. Emma tossed her a wink, a laugh erupting from her throat as the door was slammed in her face. "Goodnight, Madame Mayor!" she called out before took a few steps away from the house.

It wasn't until she was back at Mary Margaret's and lying in bed that the enormity of what she'd done settled on her shoulders. She'd kissed Henry's other mother in a game of chicken. At the time, in that moment, she'd felt like she won. An hour late, sleep still eluding her, she couldn't help but wonder if she'd just made things worse.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

An utter lack of sleep had Regina up on the proverbial wrong side of the bed before the sun made an appearance in the morning sky. She was exhausted after having been tortured by a combination of her own sense memory and her mother's harsh, chiding voice in her mind.

She'd been unable to close her eyes for even the briefest of seconds without seeing Emma's face come into view, before it distorted and she felt the sheriff's warm mouth crushing against her own. She hated that she could feel her body responding the memory of it.

It was that self-loathing for her own weakness that opened the door for Cora's voice to invade her mind, making her feel unloved and unwanted and small. She'd turned more than once, half-expecting to see her mother's ghostly apparition as her voice taunted her in the one place she couldn't run from, her own masochistic memories.

"_You petulant, stupid child. That was your best plan?" _

"_Love for 'your' son has made you weak. Again! If I hadn't birthed you, I would never believe that you are my child. My child would have squashed this…sheriff…this supposed Savior without a second thought."_

Regina could hear the disdain in her mind as clearly as she had as a child, the rejection still fresh and hurtful eons after she first felt the physical sting of Cora's anger.

When Emma's voice barged into her thoughts she very nearly welcomed it for it provided a brief respite from her mother's. "Do you know how you beat a bully, Regina?" she had asked that as she pulled Regina's body flush against her own. She remembered gasping in surprise, the firm yet soft body pressing against hers. The sheriff had mistaken it for arousal, but it wasn't that. Shock maybe, but not desire. The smug smile that had painted Emma's face as she whispered very nearly against her lips, "You call their bluff" told her exactly what the sheriff believed.

She couldn't remember the last time she'd been so affected, so thrown by a kiss. The hunger she'd felt in Emma's embrace, the aggression of her kiss that very nearly had her ready to return it with equal fervor shook her to her core. It had frightened her how much she wanted to kiss Emma back, to claim the mouth that felt as though it could devour her if she would just surrender to it. That fear was what brought her hands up, shoving Emma away instead of pulling her even closer. She'd smacked the blonde to save face, to give herself a moment to wrestle down the feeling Emma's kiss elicited, the pull low in her belly.

Regina had retreated to her room and crawled back between the sheets, but sleep wouldn't come. What was left of the night was spent swinging between the two extremes and by the time she'd given up the pretense of trying to sleep, even the memory of Emma Swan's kiss shoving aside her mother's chiding did nothing but cause her aggravation.

Her son's attitude at breakfast did nothing to improve her mood. She tried to keep her temper in check, but when Henry was rude, refusing to answer a simple question or make eye contact with her, she'd snapped at him. It was nothing compared to what Cora would have done to her for being so insolent, but it was sharp and pointed and made Henry's reaction inevitable. He had run from kitchen, hateful words trailing after him as he ran away from her.

His continued rejection cut her like a knife. With Cora's voice still echoing in her head, she felt as though she was being emotionally flayed alive, but she shoved it down, willing the pain to turn to something useful, letting it fuel her anger towards Emma as she always did. Anger was the only safe emotion she could feel when it came to Henry's birthmother. Anything else was dangerous.

[ - X - ]

Emma pulled the triplicate form from the typewriter and crushed it into a ball, tossing it into the wastepaper basket without looking. It was the fifth one she'd discarded within the past half hour, unable to concentrate on completing one of the old fashioned forms Regina insisted that she use when doing her monthly reports.

Flashes of memory had been taunting her for the better part of the night and morning, chasing away sleep and making it impossible to focus on even the most mundane tasks. She knew she was in trouble when Mary Margaret had come to check on her in the bathroom and she realized that she had been brushing her teeth for the better part of fifteen minutes. She'd been lost in the memory of silk in her hands, a lush body held against her own, the sound of Regina's gasp reverberating and repeating in her mind like a club remix, until it went throbbing straight down her spine.

What she couldn't remember was the feel and taste of Regina's mouth and that was nearly driving her as insane as what she swore she could still feel in her hands. Emma had been so focused on challenging Regina, on dominating her with a kiss, on getting the upper hand in this new chapter of their… whatever it was that was between them, that her recall of the moment completely failed her. Like throwing water on a live wire, the kiss had short-circuited her brain.

The harder she tried the further out of reach it seemed to get. The one and maybe the only time she would ever kiss Regina Mills and Emma had failed to lock the moment away in her memory vault. Parts of her life she'd rather forget… rejections, abandonments, physical and emotional pains that she would give anything to scrub from her memory could still barrel into her mind without warning, but kissing Regina… that memory was staying maddeningly out of her grasp.

Emma blew out a frustrated breath and grabbed another blank form to feed into the typewriter. Typing slowly, pecking at keys with her two index fingers, she worked carefully to finish the form. She rolled the bar, lining up the keys with the next blank space, one of only two remaining when the door to her office slammed open. She jumped, her hand smacking the typewriter keys beneath it spilling gibberish on the form.

"Jesus, Regina! Why can't you come into my office like a normal person?" she growled as she ripped the form from the typewriter, the click-clack of the mayor's high heels dancing all over Emma's last nerve.

Regina ignored the outburst. "Sheriff Swan… you and I need to have a little chat."

"Why? Have you added another unenforceable clause to my work contract? She asked testily, spinning in her chair, her eyes locking on Regina as she approached.

She paid no heed to the snide remark, disregarding it as she usually did when Emma acted out and instead perched herself on the one corner of Emma's desk that wasn't covered in paper.

"Seriously? Is it just me or does it feel like we're reliving yesterday all over again?" She reached for her coffee, missing the way Regina's widened briefly before flickering back to show the aggravation that had been building since Emma's repeated late night calls to her cell phone the night before.

"You need to surrender your badge." Regina's voice was at its most officious, the tone that was like nails on a chalkboard to the sheriff's frayed nervous system.

"Like hell I will."

"After the stunt you pulled at my home last night… showing up in the middle of the night, assaulting me with a kiss and," Regina's voice faltered as her mind replayed the moment Emma's tank had been liberated from her body, "and stripping in my foyer…"

"Technically," Emma interrupted, "I was on your staircase and I only took off my tank top. It's not like I got naked or anything." She saw something flash in those dark eyes, the flare of her nostrils that couldn't be consciously controlled, causing Emma's stomach to do a slow roll.

"You aren't fit to do this job." She held her hand out expectantly. "Your badge."

Emma looked up, her eyes mischievous as she allowed her gaze to slowly sweep over every inch of Regina's body. "Liked the way I kiss that much, huh? Or maybe you liked what you saw…hmm?"

"Ms. Swan!" she huffed, unwilling in the cold light of day to give an ounce of credence to Emma's boast or the warm feeling spreading through her body after Emma's overt visual assessment. "You are going to hand over your badge and you're going to stay away from my son!"

"He's my kid, too! And he wants to…"

"I don't care what he wants!" Regina slammed her hand against the desk, interrupting the blonde. "You're going to stay away from Henry. You aren't to see him. You aren't to have any contact with him. He is my son. Mine! And you have not proven yourself to be a good role model. He could have seen you last night. How would you have explained that away to him, Ms. Swan? Did you consider him for even a moment when you stormed into our home and disrobed?"

Emma looked away, shame coloring her fair skin. Regina was right. She hadn't thought of her son not when she'd been consumed with besting the woman that was so far under her skin she struggled to think clearly when Regina was in her vicinity. "I… I didn't…."

"Think. You never do."

"I'm sorry."

Her attempt to placate Regina fell short as the mayor remained in her comfort zone, on the attack. "Your actions have consequences, Ms. Swan! You would do well to remember that when it comes to my son."

"And you think yours don't? Emma stood in challenge, shoving her chair back and standing dangerously close to the infuriating mayor. "That's bullshit. It was your decision to put an illegal clause in my contact to try to scare me off that started all of this."

She leaned closer, close enough that she feel Regina's breath flutter over her face. "Are you that bored with your own life that your only source of enjoyment is playing games with the lives of everyone else around you?" Angry as she was, Emma's gaze still dropped to full red lips without her permission. She fisted her hands at her side when the urge to touch grew almost too strong to ignore. "Regina…what do you want from me?" she asked in a voice that was strangled with fury and want.

Regina could feel the energy crackling around them with something akin to anger or desire or some twisted combination of both. "I want you…" she swallowed hard when green eyes darkened and dropped to her mouth again. "Out. Out of Storybrooke. I want you out of my life. Out of Henry's."

"Go to hell."

"I'm already there, Ms. Swan. You've made sure of that." Regina stood abruptly, fully intending to take control of the situation with Emma once and for all, but the sheriff didn't back down or back up and their bodies touched all along their length when Regina's heels reached the floor. She could feel Emma's body heat through their clothes and her mouth went dry at the same time her mind went utterly and absolutely blank.

Brown and green eyes met and held, the air between them shifting as anger gave way to something more primal. Then Regina was taking advantage of the non-existent space between them to tangle her hands in long blonde hair and jerking Emma into a kiss. Teeth and lips crashed together, warring for dominance and control when both women refused to yield to the other.

Regina tightened her grip on Emma's hair, drawing a surprised moan of pain and excitement from the sheriff. Regina swallowed it, thrilling at the seductive power of it and immediately wanting more. She pulled again and could feel hands flex and scramble for purchase against the back of her jacket, before they dropped to her hips and she felt Emma pulling her impossibly closer.

Emma held tight to Regina's body, her mouth moving hastily against the mayor's. She tried to focus on the sensations, on the frantic press of lips against her own, on the way Regina's bottom lip felt between hers, determined to remember this kiss in a way she couldn't recall their first. She was losing herself and if the press of Regina's body against her own was any indication, she wasn't alone.

It was the shrill ring of the phone on Emma's desk that shattered the silence and pierced the fog of want that Regina had momentarily given into. She wrenched her mouth away, a look of distaste coloring her features when she shoved roughly at Emma, pushing and creating distance until they were no longer breathing the same air, much less close enough to touch.

"Damn it." Emma glared at Regina when she stumbled back and had to use the desk to regain her balance.

Regina's lips felt bruised from the kiss and she barely resisted the urge to touch her fingers to them. She turned away when Emma answered the phone, grateful for the moment she needed to gather her composure. She picked up her purse with a shaking hand and turned, intending, to leave before Emma could finish with the call.

Later when she was alone in the safety of her office and operating within the confines of her daily routine she would convince herself that the phone ringing, that the sheriff's call to duty couldn't have been more perfect timing if she had conjured it herself. Kiss or no kiss, she wanted Emma Swan gone. If she had to she'd repeat the thought like a mantra until it became her absolute truth once again and she figured out how to rid herself of the blonde once and for all.

But first she would have to silence the echo and the promise of Emma's parting words, calling after her as she had hurried from Emma's office, "Regina… this it isn't over. Not by a long shot."


End file.
